The Tour Programmes.
Although Judie and Mike Paxman were touring small clubs in the late 70's, as 'Tzuke and Paxo', it wasn't until late in 1979 when we would see the first 'Judie Tzuke' tour - a few dates in November to introduce Judie to an unsuspecting world!
Obviously this tour wasn't a substantial one, and no tour programme was produced.
The first tour programme was introduced in 1980 when a much bigger tour was undertaken for the promotion of Judie's 1980 album 'Sports Car'.
1980 saw Judie touring for the promotion of the 'Sports Car' album. This also saw the introduction of the Judie Tzuke tour programme.
The picture on the left is a scan of the front cover of this programme, the scan was provided by Tony Ryan.
1981 - I am the Phoenix is released and Judie hits the road again.
Another large tour and another tour programme. The scan on the right is again the front cover from the tour programme, provided by Tony Ryan.
'Shoot The Moon' introduced an even larger tour as Judie's popularity started to soar. A swap of record labels, from Rocket to Chrysalis, may have helped with the promotion of the tour as the amount of venues greatly increased.
Another scan on the left provided by Tony Ryan.
1983 - Judie has now moved to the larger venues. Not as big a tour as Judie's popularity draws the fans to the venues - no need for Judie to 'go to them' anymore.
The 'Ritmo' tour saw Judie at the height of her popularity. An excellent album followed by an excellent tour. Judie felt happier on this tour, until the last few dates when she caught a cold, even leaving the stage at one point at Hammersmith.
Again the scan of the programme on the right was provided by Tony Ryan.
'The Cat Is Out' tour in 1985. Again large venues and another excellent tour. Judie has swapped labels again, this time to Legacy.
Legacy are a much smaller label than Chrysalis but promote Judie well. The tour is again successful but unfortunately, through no fault of her own, sees the start of Judie's downfall.
The tour programme on the left, from my own collection, was the last to be produced..... possibly ever!?
There was now to be a long pause.... Judie walking the streets once more in search of a record deal. A large deal was in the pipeline with Polydor but, with so many alterations requested, and the birth of Judie's first daughter 'Bailey', there was a long gap between records and tours - some four years. 'Turning Stones' was released in 1989 and the tour arranged, but before the tour was undertaken a slight disagreement saw Judie leaving Polydor.
Judie was without a record deal again and the tour had to be cancelled. The record was also quickly deleted before it's full impact hit the charts.
By the time 'Left Hand Talking' was released Judie had become a relative 'unknown'. There was a slight tour, as there was with 'Wonderland' but the albums didn't chart, the tours were small and Judie was running out of record companies!
What to do now?
Judie started her own record company, Big Moon. She already had her own studio which she had been recording from for quite a while, so starting her own record label obviously made sense - if Judie was to keep producing records this was her best option.
'Under The Angels' was released and Judie toured somewhat extensively! She was having to go to the fans again. Judie still had a few dedicted fans dotted around the country and the information contained on her fan database. This information was sufficient to drag enough people to the concerts and sell enough CDs to justify struggling on.
But of course this is the age of technology and as personal computers started to become a must for every home - along side TVs, Videos, washing machines and Cookers, more and more people were turning to the Internet, finding Judie's Site, joing the Secret Agent Mailing list, attending the concerts and buying the CDs. It started to look like Judie was on the way up again.... then in 1998, a proposed tour had to get postponed and the next album release date got further and further away as Judie took unwell. What next?
The album was finally released late in 1998 and a tour arranged for early 1999.
'The Secret Agent Tour': We've already mentioned the dedicated fans. Well as the release of Secret Agent was approaching the fans on the SA mailing list started to plot! How could they improve things for Judie? A tour programme would be a good start!
The programme on the left was produced by a small bunch of 'Agents', Huw Knight, Mick Danby, Adrian Melia and Ian Taft, with contributions from various others - including myself. The ideas suggested on the list were taken on board and the programme produced.
But that wasn't all - Judie could probably have been elected, as 'Agents' everywhere started to campaign. People from all over the country were dragged to concerts, radio stations were bombarded with requests (so much so that Radio 2 even put the album on their playlist), magazines were contacted, posters were erected, etc.
With reviews in Classic Rock, even the inclusion of 'Bully' on the cover mounted CD, things were starting to look up again.
The programme gave fans that little bit extra at the concerts, as it made a very welcome return!
Anyone interested in aquiring one of the 'Secret Agent' programmes, those not lucky enough to get to the concerts, I believe there may still be some available, and hopefully they will be available through the official site shortly.
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